Eminem Introduces GQ's Shady Records 2012 NFL Playoff Pool

The superstar MC chats with us about the weekend's slate of games, his (two) favorite teams, and rapping about Tim Tebow

Eminem loves football. Maybe more than you. So to honor that obsession with the game, we got him and his buddies from Shady Records—Yelawolf, Joell Ortiz and Joe Budden from Slaughterhouse, and manager Paul Rosenberg—to compete in a friendly round of NFL bracketeering. Each week, we'll check in with some of the guys on their picks and talk pigskin. (See below for all their picks.) In this first installment, Marshall Mathers chats about his favorite team(s), what he expects from the playoffs, and whether or not he's the rap equivalent of Ray Lewis.

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GQ: Where were you when Tim Tebow nearly broke Twitter with that overtime pass last Sunday night?
Eminem: I was in my living room, watching, and I really wanted Pittsburgh to win. The Steelers are one of my favorite teams. It's all good, though. Tebow's doing some really incredible shit right now. He does certain things that other guys just can't do. The critics are always talking about his mechanics and shit like that, comparing it to the standard of what a quarterback should be, but he's defying them. Every week, he seems to defy them.

GQ: With Matt Stafford, Megatron, and Ndamukong Suh—there's a real-life football team in Detroit. What was having a good football team to root for like this season?
Eminem: Oh my god, it's incredible. It's so fucking exciting. We've got pieces, man. We just need a few more things. We need to spend a few of our draft picks getting better in the secondary. [Lewis] Delmas is ill. Our defensive line is awesome. We get Mikel LeShoure and Jahvid Best back next year, too. We've got bona fide stars on our team. It feels good to finally root for a team that's headed in the right direction. Fuck, man, if you look at Stafford—this was his first full season. 5,000 yards! He did some incredible shit, and I can't grasp how he got left off the Pro Bowl team for Eli Manning.

GQ: You're a Cowboys fan, too. Can Dallas ever win a Super Bowl with Tony Romo as the quarterback?
Eminem: Yes, they can. I hate to sound fucking cliché, but I truly believe that Romo gives them the best chance to win. It's very frustrating to watch them week in, and week out. They blew all those fourth quarter leads this year. Man, it's hard to be a football fan. You get invested in your teams and it literally can ruin your entire fucking week. And just for the record—I am a Lions fan first and foremost. But growing up as a kid, the Lions were so bad for so long, that I picked up another team in the Cowboys.

GQ: Have you ever met Cowboys owner Jerry Jones?
Eminem: Yeah, we've met. Jerry's cool. I went to the new stadium last year and we had a great time. We had a suite and I got to go down and meet Romo and some of the other players before the game started. It was cool, man. Jerry's a good guy.

GQ: Is there an analyst on TV that you particularly like or dislike?
Eminem: I flip back and forth between ESPN and the NFL Network all day long. 24-7, those two channels are always on. As far as analysts go, I'm cool with most of them. When it comes to calling a game, though, Al Michaels is my favorite. By far. C'mon, everybody misses John Madden. It sucks that he's retired, but at least we've still got Michaels. He is the last of the true icons still calling games. Just hearing his voice, it's nostalgic, man. It brings you back to when you were a little kid. His voice is ill. I don't know how long Al Michaels plans on doing the Sunday night games for NBC, but if he retired tomorrow, it would really fucking suck.

GQ: Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers?
Eminem: I'm old school, so I'll take Brett Favre. But yo, Rodgers is insane. The shit that he's doing this year is just stupid.

GQ: Is Cam Newton the real deal?
Eminem: Cam Newton is no fucking joke. I know everybody, before the season, had their doubts. They didn't think he'd work in the NFL. But that kid is ill. His shit is crazy. He can pass and run, and do them both extremely well.

GQ: The Giants have won three straight games and are starting to look eerily similar to the 2007 squad. Could they beat the Packers on Sunday and run the table?
Eminem: I don't know, man. I don't want to sound like a doubter or a hater, because in the NFL, on any given Sunday, any team can beat another one, you know? Dude, the fucking Chiefs beat the Packers this season. The Rams beat the Saints. It happens. So yeah, it's possible.

GQ: And the Saints—they just knocked your Lions out of the playoffs. Could the 49ers slow them down?
Eminem: I'm really interested in that Saints-Niners game. Drew Brees is playing like a fucking animal right now, but the way that the 49ers have turned that team around. It's crazy, right? That's going to be a hell of a game to watch. I think the Broncos and Patriots could be crazy, too. I don't know how far Houston's going to make it, though. Baltimore's tough.

GQ: You and Ray Lewis—the way you approach your professions, that intensity—I feel like you're very similar.
Eminem: Ray Lewis, man. That's a very passionate dude. He's an animal. He's the last of a dying breed, really. Obviously, he's going to the Hall of Fame. He's fucking iconic. They don't make them like him anymore. He's cut from a whole different sort of cloth.

GQ: If you're building your own NFL team, in any era, and you can pick your quarterback and head coach—who are you going with?
Eminem: Wow. This is hard. I want to…Man, this is hard. Joe Montana? Or Troy Aikman? I mean, Aikman was a winner, too. But I'll go Montana. And coach? Fuck. Tom Landry. Give me Tom Landry in that hat. Yeah. Can't go wrong with Joe Montana and Tom Landry.

GQ: You've mentioned Marcus Allen, Michael Vick, and Ben Roethlisberger in songs before. When can we expect a Tebow lyric?
Eminem: Who knows? A lot of things rhyme with Tebow, though, right?